Dress for you

I kind of bailed on trying to match the stripes, since I think it’s impossible to match stripes and gathers:

Pockets, lined in batiste:

Side zip:

The whole dress is lined in batiste, actually:

I’m not sure why I lined the dress, the fabric didn’t really need it. Probably just to see if I could:

But this is why I hardly ever wear it, and why it’s going in the Goodwill pile, finally — there’s a subtle flaw in the fabric and I managed to cut it right across the front bodice. Arrgh:

I know it’s almost imperceptible, but I know it’s there, and it drives me crazy. So … oh well. I scrutinize fabric a LOT more now, especially bargain fabrics (which this was). If I find a flaw, I mark it (on BOTH sides) with blue painters tape, so that I can’t help but see it when I’m cutting.

It’s a Liberty print, one that I’m pretty sure is called . It’s twill — I have made two other skirts with it (one in a brown/turquoise, and one in a pale blue), and I have some if it in pale blue silk that someday, when I’m feeling invincible, I will cut into. (It is the most beautiful fabric in the world.)

I love these colors together:

I like to wear this with a pale lavender cardigan and a bright orange belt, and I like that I was able to position the print just so on the bodice:

The side zip is just ‘eh’:

And the back:

I wish I’d bought all of this fabric that was ever made … I still look for more from time to time.

I think this was when I was in some doubt about the right size pattern for me, bodice-wise, and kept buying 36s and 38s and wondering why they didn’t fit well in the shoulders. (I re-bought this pattern in a 34 and have been happy with it ever since, although now I have to adjust the waist on everything.) So I don’t wear this one very often, in part because of the fit issue (I altered the shoulders to fit, but it’s not perfect) and in part because I feel like I’ve worn this a couple times to events I was greatly anticipating only to have them fall sadly flat — far short of my (probably unrealistic) expectations. There’s nothing worse than getting dressed up for something and having it fizzle out … I probably should put this in the Goodwill pile and let it be luckier for someone else!

Oh, and in , I’ve now seen the first photo of the book on shelves in the wild, thanks to my sister, who saw it in ! Doesn’t it look fab, if I say so myself?

It doesn’t really show up against the light background — it’s from this pattern:

It’s an indulgence because I really don’t need a light-colored seersucker dress (especially as cold as it’s been this month!) and things have been so busy that if I’m sewing, it should be sensible things. But I really loved this pattern, and the minute I saw it I knew I wanted to make it in stripes, with the yoke stripes going in the opposite direction from the bodice stripes.

Here’s a better look at the bodice:

And the yoke stitching detail:

The pattern wanted to you to turn in the yoke piece 1/4 inch and then topstitch it, but I thought that was a nightmare scenario … so fussy! So I faced the piece with some very very lightweight batiste, and then topstitched the faced piece:

Here’s the side zip:

And a closeup of the inverted pleats — the pattern wanted me to stitch them down, and I tried it, but it didn’t work with my body type (cough, apple, cough) so I picked out those stitches and let it be open pleats:

And here’s the back:

I definitely want to make this again … good thing I have lots of striped fabric stockpiled!

I mean, it’s not a mystery as to why I made it — I love this fabric and I remember it going together very easily — it’s a mystery as to what pattern I used. I can picture the front of the pattern very clearly — two women, one in pink, maybe? I think it was an Advance pattern, too. (Okay perhaps I can’t picture it all that clearly.)

I know I wore this to a friend’s wedding, and that the wedding was in Iowa.

I think I bought the fabric from eQuilter.

I thought this dress would go with EVERYTHING because of all the colors in the print, but I pretty much end up just wearing it with a white or black cardigan, because getting an exact match to any of these colors has proven quite difficult. But it’s still a cheerful dress, and the bodice is very comfortable. I’d make it again if I could only figure out what it was!